test this out
I need to chill , the daily grind of everyday life gets a little boring sometimes , esp after 53 years of many crazy highs and at times epic lows .But I’ve got to be grateful for what I have. I know my life although far from perfect is much better than many others . Thank god for small mercies.
Hospital appointment tomorrow morning for over active thyroid , I ain’t complaining about it but my god I didn’t even know it was a thing until they found I had it after some blood tests. I knew there was something not quite right , but took ages to diagnose. Caused me loads of problems , mostly with my eyes which is kind of scary ,chronic tiredness , weight …..
Wifey going to Goa on Friday to teach yoga and go to a yoga retreat. I was invited along but not my kind of thing,. To be sure I like the philosophy of it all , just not bendy enough to do most of the moves. Might take up tai chi , that’s more my style. hee he.
She’s away for nine days so I’ll be in charge of the kids, two cats , one with only three legs and two very nervous goldfish. Hope I don’t drink myself to death. I wonder if she’ll make me a curry before she goes.. Hmmmm…
Wondering if I can be arsed joining the local astronomy club , or should I wait until spring/summer ? Star gazing is something I really enjoy, I have a telescope and all the equipment , but when no one else in the family is interested in sitting in the garden in the middle of winter in the dark and cold it can become quite a lonely venture. .Tried to get son interested, but he’s a teenager now, thinks he’s a gangster and hates me at least five times a day at the mo.
Wondering if that big asteroid gonna destroy the Earth and when we’ll ever hear the end of the harry and Meghan debate. Snzzzz……….
Worried and anxious about my forthcoming book , its a massive thing for me and I’m about to go down the rabbit hole and have no idea what I’ll find down there.
Considering if it would be a good idea to have a gin.
And finally Im testing out some new features on my blog and wanted to see how they all worked and looked , hence this boring post!
Hi folks
Just a quick post to let you know my book: A Belfast Child is now avaiable on line from Amazon , see link below for details and how to order.
Cheers
Click here to order online : A Belfast Child
I’m creating a new page for my website/blog , Books about the Troubles ( see: 60 Films about the Troubles ) which will be a comprehensive list of the “best” /most popular books covering all sides of the Northern Ireland conflict.
The list is very long and I dont have the time or to be completely honest the patience to read them all and then write countless reviews. Therefore as many of my Twitter friends/followers are interested/lived through the Troubles I was hoping some of you guys would be interested in writing reviews for any book of your choice and I will give you full credit when I publish the blog post/add the new page.
If your interested DM me or leave a comment at the bottom of this page and I’ll be in touch.
Cheers !!
Spotlight On The Troubles: A Secret History
Episode 1
see: 60 Films about the Troubles
Adler Berrima Adler Berriman “Barry” Seal
Adler Berriman “Barry” Seal (July 16, 1939 – February 19, 1986) was a Trans World Airlines (TWA) pilot who became a major drug smuggler for the Medellín Cartel. When Seal was convicted of smuggling charges, he became an informant for the Drug Enforcement Administration and testified in several major drug trials. He was murdered in 1986 by contract killers hired by Pablo Escobar, head of the Medellín Cartel.
——————————————————————–
The Rise & Fall of Pablo Escobar El Patron Medellin Cartel Documentary
Seal, born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the son of Mary Lou (née Delcambre) and Benjamin Kurtis Seal, a candy wholesaler. Seal began flying as a teenager. According to his flight instructor, he was a naturally gifted pilot. He earned his student pilot certificate at 16 and a private pilot’s certificate at 17.
In 1961, Seal enlisted in the Louisiana Army National Guard for six years, serving with the 20th Special Forces Group. He graduated from United States Army Airborne School but never completed United States Army Special Forces selection and training. Seal later served in the 245th Engineer Battalion with his MOS being radio telephone operator.
Seal joined TWA as a flight engineer in 1964 and was soon promoted to first officer, then captain, flying a Boeing 707 on a regular Western Europe route. He was one of the youngest 707 command pilots in the TWA fleet.
Seal’s career with TWA ended in July 1972, when he was arrested for involvement in a conspiracy to smuggle a shipment of plastic explosives to Mexico using a DC-4. The case was eventually dismissed in 1974 for prosecutorial misconduct, but TWA in the meantime fired Seal, who had falsely taken medical leave to participate in the scheme.
According to statements Seal made after becoming a DEA informant, he began smuggling small quantities of cannabis . By 1978, he had begun flying significant loads of cocaine, because pound-for-pound it was more profitable.
In December 1979, Seal was arrested in Honduras after returning from a drug smuggling trip to Ecuador. Although the Honduran police did not find any cocaine, they did find an M-1 rifle, and Seal was imprisoned until July 1980.
Undeterred by his arrest, Seal expanded his operations upon returning to the United States. He hired William Bottoms, his ex-brother-in-law, as a pilot, and from 1980 on Bottoms was the main pilot in Seal’s smuggling enterprise, while Seal oversaw planning and operations.
Seal later began working for the Medellín Cartel as a pilot and drug smuggler. He transported numerous shipments of cocaine from Colombia and Panama to the United States, and earned as much as $1,300,000 per flight.
After successful runs at his home base in Louisiana he moved operations to Mena Intermountain Municipal Airport, in Mena, Arkansas. There he bought, sold and operated many planes.
Seal was eventually arrested in connection with his drug smuggling activities. In a Florida federal court, he was indicted, tried, convicted and sentenced to 10 years in prison. After his sentencing, Seal approached the DEA and offered to cooperate with the government as an informant.
Federal officials agreed to use him in that capacity and mentioned his cooperation during hearings in which Seal sought a reduction of his sentence. With an agreement reached, Seal began working as a federal informant in March 1984.
According to the Frontline: Godfather of Cocaine investigation, Ernst “Jake” Jacobson was Seal’s DEA handler during this period. Jacobson claims he still has the high-tech message encrypter which he gave Seal.
“We made sure all of his aircraft were equipped with the most expensive cryptic radio communications we had ever seen at that time,”
said Jacobson.
In order to mitigate his 1984 arrest in Fort Lauderdale, Florida for money laundering and Quaalude smuggling, Seal agreed to testify against his former employers and associates in the drug trade, and thereby contributed to putting several of them in jail. Among those against whom Seal testified were Chief Minister of the Turks and Caicos Islands Norman Saunders and members of the Medellín Cartel. Seal also testified before the President’s Commission on Organized Crime in October 1985.
Jacobson, testifying in 1988, told a House Judiciary Committee that Seal had flown to an airstrip in Nicaragua in an airplane that had cameras installed by the Central Intelligence Agency. Seal took pictures during the Nicaragua sting operation that showed Pablo Escobar, Jorge Luis Ochoa Vásquez, and other members of the Medellín Cartel loading kilos of cocaine onto a C-123 transport plane. Federico Vaughan, the Sandinista Minister of the Interior, who Seal claimed was a top aide of Tomas Borge‘s, was also photographed with Sandinista soldiers helping load the plane.
Seal was both a smuggler and a DEA informant/operative in this sting operation against the Sandinista government in Nicaragua. In 1984, Seal flew from Nicaragua to Homestead Air Force Base in Florida with a shipment of cocaine that had been allegedly brokered through the Sandinista government.
This cocaine was seized by the DEA and was never received by the cartel’s distribution handlers in Florida, which in Medellín caused suspicion to fall upon Seal as the person responsible for this lost shipment.
Edmond Jacoby’s report in the July 17, 1984 issue of the Washington Times linked officials in the Sandinista government to the Medellín cartel and discussed Seal’s mission to Nicaragua. The public disclosures jeopardized Seal’s life and quickly brought an end to the sting operation designed to capture the cartel’s leaders.
Questioned about the identity of the source, Jacobson replied, “I heard that the leak came from an aide in the White House”. He stated that Iran–Contra figure Oliver North had attended two meetings about the sting operation and had motivation to release the information. UPI reported: “By linking the Sandinistas with drug traffic … aid to the rebels accused of human rights violations might seem more palatable”.
Subcommittee chairman William J. Hughes strongly suggested that North was the source of the leak, but Representative Bill McCollum said,
“…we don’t know who leaked this. No one has been able to tell us”.
Citing testimony of DEA Administrator John C. Lawn, the report of the Kerry Committee released in December 1988 pinned the leak on North stating he “decided to play politics with the issue”. In an interview with Frontline, North said he was told by his superiors on the National Security Council to brief Senator Paula Hawkins about the operation, but he denied leaking the report.
Hawkins told Frontline that neither she nor her staff leaked the information after the briefing.Jacoby later denied that North was the source of his story and attributed it to a deceased staff member for Representative Dan Daniel.
The Wall Street Journal also printed the story, contributing to media coverage that indirectly exposed Seal’s involvement in the operation. The articles also exposed the Colombian cartel leaders and Nicaraguan Interior Minister who had been photographed moving cocaine onto Seal’s aircraft. Despite these pressures, Seal went ahead and testified with the pictures taken during the trip showing Sandinista officials in Nicaragua brokering a cocaine deal with members of Colombia’s Medellín Cartel.
Seal was sentenced to work in public service at the Salvation Army facility on Airline Highway (U.S. 61), in Baton Rouge, as a modification by the judge to Seal’s original plea deal. On February 19, 1986, Seal was shot to death in front of the site. His murder abruptly brought the DEA’s investigation to an end.
Barry Seal | American Dope
Colombian assassins sent by the Medellín Cartel were apprehended while trying to leave Louisiana, soon after Seal’s murder. Authorities thus concluded Seal’s murderers were hired by Ochoa. The killers were indicted by a state grand jury on March 27, 1986.
In May 1987, Luis Carlos Quintero-Cruz, Miguel Vélez (died in custody 2015) and Bernardo Antonio Vásquez were convicted of first degree murder in Seal’s death, and sentenced to life in prison without parole.
Louisiana Attorney General William Guste wrote to United States Attorney General Edwin Meese criticizing the government’s failure to protect Seal as a witness. At Guste’s request, Meese launched an investigation to determine whether or not attorneys in Louisiana, Miami, and Washington had mishandled the case, and to determine whether or not Seal should have been forced into protective custody. Government attorneys stated that Seal placed himself in danger by refusing to move his family and enter a witness protection program.
In 1991, cartel member Max Mermelstein testified that he had been instructed in December 1984 either to kidnap Seal and return him to Colombia, or to murder him. The reward to kidnap Seal was $1 million, and the reward to kill him was $500,000.
Seal married three times; the first to Barbara Dodson from 1963 to 1971 and to Lynn Ross from 1971 to 1972 – ended in divorce. His marriage to Deborah DuBois, in 1973, ended with his death in 1986. Seal had 6 children, 2 from his first wife, one child from a relationship he had in between marriages and three more with Debbie.
Inside the Colombian Cartels
Other drug stories
See: Kiki Camarena – The Brutal Torture & Death of a Narc
See : Gangster Warlords – Amado Carrillo Fuentes – Lord of the Skies
Ross McWhirter
12 August 1925 – 27 November 1975
Alan Ross McWhirter (12 August 1925 – 27 November 1975) was, with his twin brother, Norris, the co-founder in 1955 of Guinness Book of Records (known since 2000 as Guinness World Records) and a contributor to the television programme Record Breakers.
He was assassinated by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) in 1975.
| Ross McWhirter | |
|---|---|
| Born | Alan Ross McWhirter 12 August 1925 Winchmore Hill, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 27 November 1975 (aged 50) Gordon Hill, Greater London, England |
| Cause of death | Gunshot wounds |
| Education | Marlborough College Trinity College, Oxford |
| Occupation | writerpolitical activisttelevision presenter |
| Notable credit(s) | The Guinness Book of Records, Record Breakers |
| Spouse(s) | Rosemary McWhirter |
| Relatives | Norris McWhirter |
| Family | William McWhirter, father; Margaret Williamson, mother |
McWhirter was the youngest son of William McWhirter, editor of the Sunday Pictorial, and Margaret “Bunty” Williamson. He was born at “Giffnock” (after Giffnock Church in Glasgow, where the McWhirters were married), 10 Branscombe Gardens, Winchmore Hill, London, N21.
In 1929, as William was working on the founding of the Northcliffe Newspapers Group chain of provincial newspapers, the family moved to “Aberfoyle”, in Broad Walk, Winchmore Hill. Like his two brothers , Ross McWhirter was educated at Chesterton School, Seaford, Marlborough College and Trinity College, Oxford. Between 1943 and 1946, Ross served as a sub-lieutenant with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on board a minesweeper in the Mediterranean.
Ross and Norris both became sports journalists in 1950. In 1951, they published Get to Your Marks, and earlier that year they had founded an agency to provide facts and figures to Fleet Street, setting out, in Norris McWhirter’s words:
“to supply facts and figures to newspapers, yearbooks, encyclopaedias and advertisers”.
While building up their business, they both worked as sports journalists. One of the athletes they knew and covered was runner Christopher Chataway, an employee at Guinness who recommended them to Hugh Beaver. After an interview in 1954 in which the Guinness directors enjoyed testing the twins’ knowledge of records and unusual facts, the brothers agreed to start work on the book that would become The Guinness Book of Records.
In August 1955, the first slim green volume – 198 pages long – was at the bookstalls, and in four more months it was the UK’s number one non-fiction best-seller. Both brothers were regulars on the BBC show Record Breakers. They were noted for their encyclopedic memories, enabling them to provide detailed answers to questions from the audience about entries in The Guinness Book of Records. Norris continued to appear on the programme after Ross’s death.
In 1958, long after the legend of William Webb Ellis as the originator of rugby had become engrained in rugby culture, Ross managed to rediscover his grave in le cimetière du vieux château at Menton in Alpes Maritimes (it has since been renovated by the French Rugby Federation).
In the early 1960s, he was a Conservative Party activist and sought, unsuccessfully, the seat of Edmonton in the 1964 general election. Following his killing, his brother and others founded the National Association for Freedom (later The Freedom Association).
Norris McWhirter interview 1979
McWhirter advocated various restrictions on the freedom of the Irish community in Britain, such as making it compulsory for all of them to register with the local police and to provide signed photographs of themselves when renting flats or booking into hotels and hostels.
In addition, McWhirter offered a £50,000 reward for information leading to a conviction for several recent high-profile bombings in England that were publicly claimed by the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA). In doing so, McWhirter recognised that he could then be a target himself.
This was described as a bounty by McWhirter, and considered a bounty by the IRA Army Council, a view that led directly to the events that followed, although the idea was not originally his, but that of John Gouriet.
On 27 November 1975 at 6.45 p.m., McWhirter was shot and killed by two IRA volunteers, Harry Duggan and Hugh Doherty, both of whom were members of what became known as the Balcombe Street Gang,[ the group for whose capture McWhirter had offered the reward. McWhirter was shot at close range in the head and chest with a .357 Magnum revolver outside his home in Village Road, Bush Hill Park.
He was taken to Chase Farm Hospital, but died soon after being admitted. Duggan and Doherty were apprehended following the Balcombe Street siege and charged with murdering McWhirter, in addition to nine other victims. They were sentenced to life imprisonment, but released in 1999 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.
See : Balcombe Street Siege
See: 27th November deaths in the Troubles
Saladin:
The Life, the Legend and the Islamic Empire
Saladin remains one of the most iconic figures of his age. As the man who united the Arabs and saved Islam from Christian crusaders in the 12th century, he is the Islamic world’s preeminent hero. Ruthless in defence of his faith, brilliant in leadership, he also possessed qualities that won admiration from his Christian foes. He knew the limits of violence, showing such tolerance and generosity that many Europeans, appalled at the brutality of their own people, saw him as the exemplar of their own knightly ideals.
My thoughts ?
A fascinating and engaging easy to follow account of the life and times of one of the greatest and most respected Muslim leaders ever to have lived in my humble opinion. At a time when religious wars dominated the political landscape and European Christians considered it a religious duty to wage holy war , Saladin’s story unfolds and what a story it is. With a cast of characters as diverse as Raynald of Châtillon , ( evil bastard ) , Richard the Lion Heart ( treacherous ) and the mysterious and much feared assassins this is a page turner and I read it within two days.
Well worth a read for those interested in this tumultuous period of history and the legacy of God’s ” Holy Warriors. “
But Saladin is far more than a historical hero. Builder, literary patron and theologian, he is a man for all times, and a symbol of hope for an Arab world once again divided. Centuries after his death, in cities from Damascus to Cairo and beyond, to the Arabian Peninsula and the Gulf, Saladin continues to be an immensely potent symbol of religious and military resistance to the West. He is central to Arab memories, sensibilities and the ideal of a unified Islamic state.
In this authoritative biography, historian John Man brings Saladin and his world to life in vivid detail. Charting his rise to power, his struggle to unify the warring factions of his faith, and his battles to retake Jerusalem and expel Christian influence from Arab lands, Saladin explores the life and the enduring legacy of this champion of Islam, and examines his significance for the world today.
Amazon Reviews
Saladin Documentary
Biography of the Life of Saladin
See more reviews : The Life, the Legend and the Islamic Empire
See below for more details on Saladin
Assassins and Occult Secret Societies
Raynald of Châtillon
Raynald of Châtillon, also known as Reynald or Reginald of Châtillon (French: Renaud de Châtillon; c. 1125 – 4 July 1187), was Prince of Antioch from 1153 to 1160 or 1161, and Lord of Oultrejordain from 1175 until his death. He was born as his father’s second son into a French noble family. After losing a part of his patrimony, he joined the Second Crusade in 1147. He settled in the Kingdom of Jerusalem and served in the royal army as a mercenary.
Raynald married Constance, the reigning Princess of Antioch, in 1153, in spite of her subjects’ opposition. He was always in need of funds. He captured and tortured Aimery of Limoges, Latin Patriarch of Antioch, because Aimery had refused to pay a subsidy to him. Raynald launched a plundering raid in Cyprus in 1155, causing great destruction. Four years later, the Byzantine Emperor, Manuel I Komnenos, came to Antioch at the head of a large army, forcing Raynald to beg for his mercy. Raynald made a raid in the valley of the river Euphrates at Marash to seize booty from the local peasants in 1160 or 1161, but he was captured by the governor of Aleppo.
Raynald was held in prison until 1176. After his release for a large ransom, he did not return to Antioch, because his wife had meanwhile died. He married Stephanie of Milly, the wealthy heiress of Oultrejordain. Since Baldwin IV of Jerusalem also granted Hebron to him, Raynald was one of the wealthiest barons of the realm. He controlled the caravan routes between Egypt and Syria. Baldwin, who suffered from leprosy, made him regent in 1177.
Raynald led the crusader army that defeated Saladin at the Battle of Montgisard. He was the only Christian leader to pursue an offensive policy against Saladin, making plundering raids against the caravans travelling near his domains. He built a fleet of five ships which plundered the coast of the Red Sea, threatening the route of the Muslim pilgrims towards Mecca in early 1183. Saladin pledged that he would never forgive Raynald.
Raynald was a firm supporter of Baldwin IV’s sister, Sybilla, and her husband, Guy of Lusignan, during conflicts regarding the succession of the king. Sibylla and Guy were able to seize the throne in 1186 due to Raynald’s co-operation with her uncle, Joscelin III of Courtenay. Raynald attacked a caravan travelling from Egypt to Syria in late 1186 or early 1187, claiming that the truce between Saladin and the Kingdom of Jerusalem did not bind him. After Raynald refused to pay a compensation, Saladin invaded the kingdom and annihilated the crusader army in the Battle of Hattin. Raynald was captured in the battlefield. Saladin personally beheaded him after he refused to convert to Islam. Most historians have regarded Raynald as an irresponsible adventurer whose lust for booty caused the fall of the Kingdom of Jerusalem. On the other hand, Bernard Hamilton says that he was the only crusader leader who tried to prevent Saladin from unifying the nearby Muslim states.
See: Knights Templar – God’s Holy Warriors’
Why Did Saladin Execute Raynald of Châtillon?
– Raynald of Châtillon –
The Untold Truth of a Crusader
See : Raynald of Châtillon
| Salah ad-Din Yusuf | |
|---|---|
| Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Al-Malik an-Nasir | |
| Statue of Saladin in Damascus | |
| Sultan of Egypt and Syria | |
| Reign | 1174 – 4 March 1193 |
| Coronation | 1174, Cairo |
| Predecessor | New office |
| Successor | Al-Aziz Uthman (Egypt)Al-Afdal (Syria) |
| Born | 1137 Tikrit, Upper Mesopotamia, Abbasid Caliphate |
| Died | 4 March 1193 (aged 55–56) Damascus, Syria, Ayyubid Sultanate |
| Burial | Umayyad Mosque, Damascus |
| Spouse | Ismat ad-Din Khatun |
| Full nameAn-Nasir Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb | |
| Dynasty | Ayyubid |
| Father | Najm ad-Dīn Ayyūb |
| Religion | Sunni Islam (Shafi’i)[1][2][3] |
An-Nasir Salah ad-Din Yusuf ibn Ayyub (Arabic: صلاح الدين يوسف بن أيوب / ALA-LC: Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb; Kurdish: سەلاحەدینی ئەییووبی / ALA-LC: Selahedînê Eyûbî), known as Salah ad-Din or Saladin (/ˈsælədɪn/; 1137 – 4 March 1193), was the first sultan of Egypt and Syria and the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. A Sunni Muslim of Kurdish ethnicity, Saladin led the Muslim military campaign against the Crusader states in the Levant. At the height of his power, his sultanate included Egypt, Syria, Upper Mesopotamia, the Hejaz, Yemen and other parts of North Africa.
He was originally sent to Fatimid Egypt in 1164 alongside his uncle Shirkuh, a general of the Zengid army, on the orders of their lord Nur ad-Din to help restore Shawar as vizier of the teenage Fatimid caliph al-Adid. A power struggle ensued between Shirkuh and Shawar after the latter was reinstated. Saladin, meanwhile, climbed the ranks of the Fatimid government by virtue of his military successes against Crusader assaults against its territory and his personal closeness to al-Adid.
After Shawar was assassinated and Shirkuh died in 1169, al-Adid appointed Saladin vizier, a rare nomination of a Sunni Muslim to such an important position in the Isma’ili Shia caliphate. During his tenure as vizier, Saladin began to undermine the Fatimid establishment and, following al-Adid’s death in 1171, he abolished the Fatimid Caliphate and realigned the country’s allegiance with the Sunni, Baghdad-based Abbasid Caliphate.
In the following years, he led forays against the Crusaders in Palestine, commissioned the successful conquest of Yemen, and staved off pro-Fatimid rebellions in Upper Egypt. Not long after Nur ad-Din’s death in 1174, Saladin launched his conquest of Syria, peacefully entering Damascus at the request of its governor. By mid-1175, Saladin had conquered Hama and Homs, inviting the animosity of other Zengid lords, the official rulers of Syria’s various regions.
Soon after, he defeated the Zengid army at the Battle of the Horns of Hama and was thereafter proclaimed the “Sultan of Egypt and Syria” by the Abbasid caliph al-Mustadi. Saladin made further conquests in northern Syria and Jazira, escaping two attempts on his life by the “Assassins“, before returning to Egypt in 1177 to address issues there. By 1182, Saladin had completed the conquest of Muslim Syria after capturing Aleppo, but ultimately failed to take over the Zengid stronghold of Mosul.
Under Saladin’s command, the Ayyubid army defeated the Crusaders at the decisive Battle of Hattin in 1187, and thereafter wrested control of Palestine—including the city of Jerusalem—from the Crusaders, who had conquered the area 88 years earlier. Although the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem continued to exist until the late 13th century, its defeat at Hattin marked a turning point in its conflict with the Muslim powers of the region. Saladin died in Damascus in 1193, having given away much of his personal wealth to his subjects. He is buried in a mausoleum adjacent to the Umayyad Mosque. Saladin has become a prominent figure in Muslim, Arab, Turkish and Kurdish culture, and he has often been described as being the most famous Kurd in history.
First Crusade Part 1 of 2
See: Saladin/ Wikipedia
Soldier Stories
Undercover in Northern Ireland
Soldier K
The post you are about to read was submitted by a former soldier whom served in Northern Ireland during the Troubles. Here he gives an intriguing insight into a covert operation , tracking IRA players and units as they moved large quantities of homemade explosive (HME) throughout Belfast and Northern Ireland.
I shudder to think what misery and damage this could have inflicted on the innocent that always seem to pay the highest price as the paramilitaries waged indiscriminate war , that at times seemed never ending and brought us all to the edge of an abyss that hunted and threatened our daily lives.
By its very nature the work of undercover operatives is shrouded in secrecy and during the Troubles the UK security forces and intelligence agencies were experts in the “dark arts” and covert operations designed to take down , monitor and infiltrate the IRA & other N.I paramilitary groups was common practice. Not surprisingly some of these operations became public knowledge, but the vast majority remained cloaked in the fog of war and I suppose we’ll never know the full truth of what happened during “The Dirty War” and the madness of the Northern Ireland Troubles.
Thank god those days are behind us.
For reasons of security, all names have been changed.
——————————————————————————————————————
— Disclaimer –
The views and opinions expressed in these posts/documentaries are solely intended to educate and provide background information to those interested in the Troubles of Northern Ireland. They in no way reflect my own opinions and I take no responsibility for any inaccuracies or factual errors.
——————————————————————————————————————
Soldier Stories
Under cover in Northern Ireland
Soldier K
For nearly three years I’d been doing covert surveillance for a unit in Belfast, a lot of the tasks were generally routine and monotonous designed to keep track of the known players from both sides in their daily activities, but every now and then the tasking from Castlereagh turned up the odd higher importance task.
The Op’s room received a phone call over the secure line to prepare for Ops and deploy from the two ‘Dave’s’. One was Dave from ‘H’, a grizzled long term veteran who had spent ages down the road and a long time in the province, the other, Dave from five, a much more clean cut methodical man. These two men were our handlers, they decided what we would do and when we would do it, as a unit we had built up a good reputation with them for being reliable & capable.
The pagers we constantly carried when on standby beeped into life, here we go again, grab your kit and get over the compound within fifteen minutes. Majority of the time when we got a fastball it was for when good old ‘Paula’ would be bringing in another Mk15 mortar from over the border. Once a month, regular as clockwork she’d pop down and bring one up unaware that we had been watching her for the last two years. The regular street plodding troops would be kept out of the area by an ‘out of bounds’ notice completely unaware of her courier activities. She’d be given a free route from collection to drop off, she was small fry, just a small cog in the process, we knew her part well, it was where it was going up the chain that was of higher priority.
So, fastball across to the briefing room to see what we’ve been given this time. The briefing room was in our own self-contained compound within a secure camp, no one could just walk in, the Ops room walls were covered with maps of the city marking current Ops, out of bounds areas and other places of interest. Secrecy was paramount.
DJ , the unit 2ic and WO2 was taking the briefing as normal. DJ was a veteran from Hereford, a serious man with a fiery temper and he knew his stuff, he didn’t suffer fools gladly. He wouldn’t even allow us to have a unit logo as he said our job didn’t officially exist. The less people knew about what we did the better.
The briefing started with all present and we discovered that a large amount of homemade explosive (HME) was coming into the city and we needed eyes on it.
It was being tracked along its route and is due to arrive at the dairy farm complex where it would be stored by one of the known players at a building known as the coal bunker.
We weren’t talking about an insignificant amount, this was the annual resupply to Belfast, we later discovered it was approx. five tonnes. That quantity could cause chaos in the city, taking it off the IRA was now the main priority for all the agencies involved.
All other surveillance jobs were put on hold. The whole unit was deploying on this one, all leave suspended, thirty blokes on one Op.
My tasking was given by the boss, a four-man covert surveillance OP up the mountain above Whiterock. It was a place I was familiar with; it gave great ‘eyes on’ for large parts of the city. It afforded enough cover to see and not be seen. When we linked in with the other locations we regularly used, Whiterock, Divis, MPH & Broadway to name but a few we could surveil almost everywhere. This, in conjunction with the other agencies we had the capability to cover everywhere if needed. We could watch from near, and from afar.
Our mountain kit was always packed for deploying 24/7, two teams of four on constant standby with the capability of deploying either rural or in the city. On rare occasions we even deployed to other parts of the province such as South Armagh to assist on jobs for fellow units, certain jobs require certain skills and we happened to be one of those units.
Short straw meant I was up the mountain, a cold wet windy place but with the right equipment a home from home. Luckily it was a place I knew like the back of my hand after 3 years working in Belfast, where to deploy for the best visibility to the tgt without being seen. Another few days ahead of ‘hard routine’ watching the bad guys, eating cold food and remaining hidden. All part of the fun in the world of surveillance. Unbeknown to me then, a few days would turn into two weeks.
The routes were cleared for safety and clear passage with Lisburn as always, gone were the days of driving where you wanted when you wanted. Getting from A to B blending in with the normal traffic was important, the head shed didn’t want another incident similar to the two signallers. We had our own fleet of civilian vehicles, cars and vans, all at our disposal. All were unmarked, had regular number plate changes and maintained perfectly.
I was deploying with Scouse, JD & Gaz, three good blokes who you could trust with your life, I’d known them all a long time and they were reliable as hell and good in the field. Good operatives, we’d all done many ops in our time together.
We collected rations from Jimmy in the stores and fresh batteries for the various radios we operated when deployed from the sigs store. As we worked with multiple agencies, we had to be able to speak to all of them, deploying with three different radio sets was common practice.
Deployment would be at night under the cover of darkness, eyes on by first light. Drop off in the early hours, get established in the Op and up and running before the milkman starts his round.
All precautions were taken, two of the blokes in civvies would be driving and dropping us off in one of the unmarked vans, the fact that we were able to grow our hair long added to the air of non-military that we required when driving through the city. For night drop off the vehicles were even fitted with a brake cut off switch, touch the brake, no lights, no one could see you stopping. They were armed with Heckler & Koch HK53’s and 9mm pistols, a great bit of kit especially when in the vehicles, the SA80 was too long to secrete under your legs.
23: 00hrs, ready to roll. Weapons collected, kit loaded into the back of the van and off we went. Depending on the job depended on the weapons we took, apart from the normal issue SA80’s we also had access to other weapon systems. Pistols, HK53’s, L96’s, M203’s and Remington Wingmaster shotguns, always nice to have a choice.
We weave our way across the city from the Sydenham bypass, through the city centre eventually onto the Cliftonville Road, Oldpark Road, left onto the Ballysillan and then onto the Ligoniel Road heading towards the drop off point in the dead of night. The vehicle commander gave a running commentary on the journey so we’re always aware of where we are in case the shit hits the fan, no point having to leap out of a vehicle wondering where the fuck you are in an emergency. Sat in the back of the van was always a cautious experience, remaining silent, listening to the noise outside, everyone completely unaware of you being there. Just a pair of scruffy workmen commuting in a tatty van.
Occasionally you’d be stopped in a RUC checkpoint, the driver would give a quick covert flash of an ID card and you’d be ushered safely through. On the odd instance when it was quiet they’d ask to have a little nosey in the back of the van to satisfy their curiosity. A little wry smile from the blokes inside and a quick nod from the plod in appreciation often sufficed at the sight of four blokes in full cam cream tooled up ready to deploy.
“Standby guys, two minutes out, all quiet on the roads, drop off inbound” came the shout from mark in the front of the tatty inconspicuous HiAce van. Brake cut off switch flicked, 50m, 20m, 10m…. stop. Here we go, senses alert, always vulnerable at the drop off. Driver gets out to pretend to take a leak, side door of the van slides open, out into the bushes swiftly, door slid shut, driver back in and off they go. Deployed without a hitch all in less than a minute.
Moving from the drop off we made our way silently to the OP position, navigation was easy as we had the Divis KP as a reference point and the night-time glow of the city to guide us. We knew where we were roughly going to site the OP as we had vis studies from the mountain, we already knew where we would have to be for the best eyes on the target. By dawn we would be in place.
And so the routine started, two hours on, two hours off, observing, reporting and logging. One doing the surveillance of the coal bunker and the other providing the protection whilst the other two rested or did admin. We had five tonnes of HME under observation from day one. Now it was time to watch what the IRA intended to do with it, who was going to collect it and distribute it. We knew they wouldn’t want that quantity in one location for too long, it would be too risky. Let’s see how the IRA Quartermasters intended to move it.
The first breakdown of the supply came after a few days, a large part of the HME was moved by vehicle to a vehicle breakers yard on the Old Suffolk Road. The problem with this was we couldn’t get eyes on to observe it from our location and as it was in a staunch Catholic area, other ways to keep track of it would have to be used. Luckily one of the units that were involved in the multi agency operation went in and secreted covert cameras, so far so good. We couldn’t afford to lose track of any of the HME. The choice of the coal bunker was a clever place to store it, it had regular comings and goings, no one would question large coal bags being placed in vehicles.
By now we’d been in the covert OP for a week and were well established, weather conditions were pretty dire, cold and wet and the lack of movement took its toll on circulation although morale was still good. Gaz had been struggling with his feet and frost nip was setting in due to lack of movement and reduced circulation, as we were due for a battery and food resupply it was a sensible decision to replace him with another operative. It was decided that ‘H’ would be a straight swap, H was good, didn’t say a lot but was easy to get on with and a professional soldier. Myself and Gaz would RV with the resupply van, H and myself would return to the OP.
The bonus was it would allow us to get rid of any ‘waste’ that we had accumulated over the week. It’s amazing what you amass with four blokes sat in a bush eating cold food.
The next breakdown of the HME came within a few days, part of the consignment was taken to a house near the Musgrave Park Hospital, this was a smaller amount and what we believed to be part of the finer distribution network the IRA organized. By now we were being stretched as a Unit, I’d been in place for ten days plus on hard routine. We got to the stage where the command decision was taken that we needed additional support from fellow Units trained as we were. We were bolstered by the blokes from South Armagh doing the job similar to us, it was nice that they were able to return the favour. They were pleased they were able to operate in the city for once, a nice break from being stuck at the Mill in Bessbrook. With our unit, the other military units involved and the RUC contingents we must have been around a hundred blokes involved as of the 24th March 1993.
We had military units on standby at various location along with specialist units from the RUC, it wasn’t a case of if, it was just a case of when we struck.
Day fourteen of the Op started like all the others, explosives being spread all over the city, watching, logging all the activity going on at the coal bunker and keeping in regular comms with call sign Zero back in Belfast. Unbeknown to us it would take a different turn.
In the early evening we triggered a red Astra pulling into the Dairy Farm complex and stopped near the coal bunker. “Standyby standby, red Astra with 2 up outside the tgt building”. Two masked gunmen got out of the car and one ran towards and entered the coal bunker whilst the other provided cover, shots were fired but due to the distance we were observing from we were unable to take any offensive action. “ Zero, Delta, two gunmen, standby” We did observe one gunman having problems with his pistol, which resulted in him returning to the vehicle for another weapon. In a very short space of time, no more than a couple of minutes the gunmen were back in the Astra and heading out of the Dairy Farm complex, the vehicle was later found burnt out. Some of the locals even threw stones at the gunmen.
All the time this was going on we were live time reporting to all agencies involved in the operation. As the coal bunker had been subject to terrorist activity the higher authorities gave the order for all three location to be simultaneously searched resulting in the seizure of all of the explosives, a massive dent in the Provisionals activities within the Belfast Brigade.
Within the hour we were given the order to extract from the OP. We headed up to Divis KP where we awaited extraction back to camp for the debrief, then a shower & a beer.
—————————————————————————————————————–
Soldiers Stories Northern Ireland
See: Military Reconnaissance Force
See: Forkhill Armagh – IRA “Bandit Country”
See: IRA Nutting Squad
Ulster Says No !
Ulster Says No was the name and slogan of a unionist mass protest campaign against the provisions of the 1985 Anglo-Irish Agreement which gave the government of the Republic of Ireland an advisory role in the governance of Northern Ireland.
For British unionists (those who want Northern Ireland to remain part of the United Kingdom), this was seen as foreign interference in the internal affairs of the UK. For Irish nationalists, those provisions were seen as a start at fixing the democratic problem of lack of political representation of the large minority of Irish nationalists in Northern Ireland.
The Ulster Says No campaign was led by Democratic Unionist Party leader Ian Paisley.
After the signing of the Anglo-Irish Agreement by British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald, unionist leaders stated that the agreement to allow the Republic’s government its new role needed to be put before the Northern Ireland electorate in a referendum and organised a vote in the Northern Ireland Assembly to that effect.
Irish republican party Sinn Féin also objected (albeit for different reasons).Fo r similar reasons, in the Irish Parliament, the main opposition party Fianna Fáil also voted against.
A large rally protested the move at Belfast City Hall. The numbers attending were estimated to be at least 100,000 while unionist sources estimated over 200,000. Paisley and all the other unionist MPs resigned from the British House of Commons in protest, and all except Jim Nicholson were subsequently re-elected in the resultant by-elections.
Ian Paisley ULSTER SAYS NO
My Thought ?
The Anglo-Irish Agreement along with many other high profile events during the Troubles , including Bloody Friday and the Shankill Bomb was a pivotal moment in Loyalist/Protestant history and at the time many including myself saw this as a complete sell out and another step on the road to a United Ireland. Living in Glencairn ( 19 at the time ) we went buck mad with rage and as so often happened during the Troubles this led to riots and chaos throughout Belfast and Northern Ireland . I remember vividly some of the riots that took place and I took part in around this time. Don’t judge me to harshly , I was a product of the time and place I lived through.
Once I was walking a girl home from the Woodvale to the Shankill and I walked straight into/through a riot taking place by Ardoyne. No bothers me thinks waving at people I knew in the crowds and then someone threw a petrol bomb and before I knew what was happening it landed on my right arm and within seconds flames were crawling up my arm. As I fought frantically to put it out I heard one of my friends call out from the mob :
“ Quick , get more Petrol, Chambers is going out! “
Needless to say I was not impressed , the Belfast humour back then could be very black indeed and even in the maelstrom of a riot we could find something to laugh about. My sister Mags was living in Ottawa Street (Woodvale) at the time and when the police/army use to charge us we would all run down the local streets, full of Terrace houses and all the neighbours , including my sister would open their front doors so we could escape the long arm of the law and hide in the back yard until the coast was clear . Crazy days, but back then the community acted and thought as one and we all looked out for each other no matter what.
I remember going to the rally by the City Hall and me and my mates climbed up above H Samuels jewellers and had a birds eye view of Big Ian and the other speakers on the platform.
NEVER !
NEVER !
NEVER !
Then someone broke into the sports shop and next thing we know thousands of golf and tennis balls are flying everywhere and this memory is imprinted on my soul forever!
I cover this and many other major events of the Troubles in my forthcoming autobiography.
See here to read some extracts : Belfastchildis.com
Ulster Protestants Protest 1985 -1986
Anglo-Irish Agreement
The Anglo-Irish Agreement was a 1985 treaty between the United Kingdom and Ireland which aimed to help bring an end to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The treaty gave the Irish government an advisory role in Northern Ireland’s government while confirming that there would be no change in the constitutional position of Northern Ireland unless a majority of its people agreed to join the Republic. It also set out conditions for the establishment of a devolved consensus government in the region.
The Agreement was signed on 15 November 1985 at Hillsborough Castle, by the British prime minister, Margaret Thatcher, and the Irish Taoiseach, Garret FitzGerald
During her first term as Prime Minister, Thatcher had unsuccessful talks with both Jack Lynch and Charles Haughey on solving the conflict in Northern Ireland. In December 1980 Thatcher and Haughey met in Dublin, with the subsequent communiqué calling for joint studies of “possible new institutional links” between Britain, Northern Ireland, and the Republic of Ireland.[2] Although this resulted in the founding of the Anglo-Irish Intergovernmental Council in 1981, Anglo-Irish relations had by this time deteriorated due to the Irish hunger strike and so this body was neglected.
Haughey resumed power shortly afterwards and took Argentina’s side during the Falklands War, leading to the meeting scheduled for July 1982 to be cancelled. However, the British Northern Irish Secretary, Jim Prior, proposed “rolling devolution”: a step by step approach whereby local government was devolved to an assembly elected by proportional representation. This was boycotted by the nationalist community and the plan was dead by June 1983.
The IRA‘s campaign on the mainland was ongoing, with the bombing of Chelsea Barracks in October 1981, the Hyde Park and Regent’s Park bombings in July 1982 and the Harrods bombings in December 1983. Thatcher herself was the target in the Brighton hotel bombing of October 1984. British military intelligence informed Thatcher that she could not take the IRA head on and the likelihood of never-ending violence persuaded her to seek a political solution to the Troubles..
The Anglo-Irish Agreement’s origins lay in the behind-the-scenes negotiations between the British and Irish foreign offices, co-ordinated by the Cabinet Secretary, Robert Armstrong, and the secretary to the Irish government, Dermot Nally.
The New Ireland Forum had been founded (with the backing of then-Taoiseach Garret FitzGerald) in May 1983 by John Hume in an attempt to undercut support for the IRA by bringing together constitutional nationalist parties from both sides of the border. In June 1983 Thatcher and Fitzgerald met again and revived the Anglo-Irish Council, which met sixteen times between November 1983 and March 1985.
The report of the New Ireland Forum was published in May and suggested three possible solutions: a federal united Ireland, a confederal united Ireland or joint sovereignty. Fitzgerald hoped that Thatcher might be persuaded of the third option but at the press conference after their meeting Thatcher publicly proclaimed that all three options were “out”.
Thatcher’s intransigence persuaded the American President, Ronald Reagan, to intervene.
The most powerful pressure for the Agreement came from the United States, where the Irish-American lobby was second only to the Israel lobby in influence.[6] Led by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Tip O’Neill, and Senators Edward Kennedy and Daniel Moynihan, the Irish lobby regularly denounced what they considered British colonialism and human rights violations in Northern Ireland. Reagan, who was also Irish-American and visited Ireland in June 1984, increasingly encouraged Thatcher to make progress on Anglo-Irish talks.
45 Senators and Congressmen (including O’Neill, Kennedy and Moynihan) wrote to Reagan criticising Thatcher’s rejection of the Forum’s report. They also pushed him to pressure Thatcher into reconsidering her stance at the upcoming meeting at Camp David in December 1984. Reagan duly discussed Northern Ireland with Thatcher at their meeting, telling her that “making progress is important” and that “there is great Congressional interest in the matter”, adding that O’Neill wanted her to be “reasonable and forthcoming”.
Afterwards, Reagan assured O’Neill that he had emphasised the need for progress.
Sean Donlon, the Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, later claimed that “the intervention by Reagan was vital, and it was made possible by Tip”. Michael Lillis, the Deputy Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs from 1983-1985, similarly claimed that “O’Neill was very active and effective in mobilizing the President. And there is no doubt whatsoever that Reagan’s regular references to this in his interaction with Thatcher helped us in a major way”.
By January 1985, Thatcher was persuaded that progress must be made on the issue. Her primary aim was security but realised that in order for help in this area she would need to concede in other areas, such as grievances over policing and the courts. She also hoped that this would help reconcile the Catholic population to the United Kingdom. She invited John Hume to Chequers on 16 January to discuss Northern Ireland. She now accepted that an “Irish dimension” was necessary in return for the Irish government’s acceptance that Northern Ireland would remain a member of the United Kingdom so long as it had majority support.[16] In April a four-member Cabinet committee had been informed of the negotiations; in October the entire Cabinet was informed. Thatcher and Fitzgerald met again in May at a European summit in which they discussed what became the Anglo-Irish Agreement.
See here for : Unionist and Loyalist opposition and more details on the agreement
See here for : Sunningdale Agreement
